Tyrese Haliburton says the Sacramento Kings have ‘zero culture’
Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton recently joined J.J. Redick on his podcast, The Old Man and The Three, to discuss his time with the Sacramento Kings. The former lottery pick wasted no time before delving into the dysfunction and lack of identity within the franchise.
“My first two years, I played on a team and an organization with zero culture,” Haliburton said. “Being honest… The great part of coming to Indiana (Pacers)… I get to help build the culture here. A lot is expected of me. That’s my favorite part of this so far.”
The Kings have missed the postseason for 16 straight seasons — a historically bad streak — and have not sniffed the playoffs since the 2005-06 campaign, which was the last time they even had a record on the right side of .500.
So, does Haliburton have a point with his comments on the lack of culture within the Kings’ franchise?
Even comparing the two teams right now, the Pacers sit at 6-6 and hold the seventh spot in the East, playing way above the bell curve of their original season projections. On the other side, the Kings are also 6-6, but would find themselves narrowly inside the play-in tournament if the season wrapped today.
Haliburton is off to a potential All-Star campaign in Indy, averaging career highs of 20.5 points per game to go with 10.3 assists per game on 48% shooting from the field, 43% from three and 86% from the stripe.
For the Kings, it is hard to establish a winning culture with so many coaching changes and generally poor front office decisions. Their current coach, Mike Brown, is bringing a solid defensive scheme that worked wonders on the defending champion Golden State Warriors’ bench. The problem is that Brown marks the 12th head coach of the Kings since the 2005-06 season. Of the dozen sideline generals in that span, none have even mustered a winning record in their tenure as coach.
Since the 2006-07 season, the drafting results in Sacramento have been jarring to say the least, and questionable at the most.
In 2011, they selected Bismack Biyombo with the seventh pick ahead of future stars in Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard. A year later, they took big man Thomas Robinson with the fifth pick over the likes of Damian Lillard and Andre Drummond. In 2013, the pattern of horrendous decision-making would persist with selecting guard Ben McLemore over notable players in CJ McCollum, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert. In 2014, they took Nik Stauskas over Zach LaVine. In 2015, they snatched up center Willie Cauley-Stein over players such as Myles Turner and Devin Booker.
The latest drafting mistake was selecting Marvin Bagley III second overall pick in 2018, ahead of Luka Doncic, Trae Young and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The case with 95 percent of these draft picks is they are either major busts or completely erased from the NBA circle.
Haliburton wanted to help change the tides for SacTown but ended up being another pawn to move in a trade for All-Star Domantas Sabonis and additional pieces that are not even on the roster anymore. This move showed a strong commitment to De’Aaron Fox as their head honcho at point guard going forward — a decision they may soon regret.
Ultimately, the reason for a lack of culture within the Sacramento Kings comes from a gap in stability and a severe weakness in player evaluation and team direction.
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